What A Week, Huh? Lemon, It’s Wednesday

SNL Season 8 Premiere

For whatever reason, Dick Ebersol chose to make some slight tweaks to SNL in his first full season as showrunner, but he abandoned most of those changes as season 8 began. Returning: the “live from New York” punctuation to the cold open, the host monologue, and Don Pardo as announcer. The only change remaining in place is that Update is still using a different name - now it’s called Saturday Night News.

With a new season annually comes some cast changes. Three newcomers joined this year. Gone are Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato. I didn’t see much of Rosato in the three episodes from his season that I had sampled, so I can’t really properly judge his brief stint. Also leaving is Brian Doyle-Murray. He was only a writer/featured player, not a full fledged cast member, but he did serve as the news anchor, which is a traditionally high profile gig.

I’ll get to the new cast members shortly, but it’s worth noting this week’s “interesting” host. Chevy Chase had the honor. Talking about him in 2023 is vastly different from talking about him in 1982. Back then, he was still a megastar and it wasn’t generally known how so many people despise him. Watching his comedic tics - the smirks, the mugging, the smarminess - feels different with that knowledge. It feels very “look at me!” But what made this show’s hosting gig so odd is that he wasn’t actually in New York for the show. In the cold open he claimed that he missed his flight to New York and was therefore still in Burbank. As a result, his opening fall occurred when a stagehand tipped over the TV a monitor he was seen on. Since he was on the other side of the country, there was little for him to actually do during the show, which afforded more opportunity for the regular members of the cast.

As mentioned, three newbies joined the show for this season. One was Brad Hall, who was one of the more nonessential cast members the show has had. I always found his line reading a bit uneasy. It didn’t help that he also had the news anchor gig; there surely must have been a better option than he. After the show he went on to have a successful career as a producer and showrunner, but he wasn’t a particularly skilled live comedian. Gary Kroeger also joined the team. He might have succeeded in a different era, but with the dominance of Eddie Murphy and to a lesser extent Joe Piscopo there are only so many opportunities for others to earn screen time. I always found him to be a generally likable performer, and this blog post he wrote after the 40th anniversary celebration shows him to be a good dude with solid perspective. There was also a third new cast member.

As many superstars as the show has produced, there is also a number of future stars who made their national debuts on SNL who just weren’t able to break through during their time on their show. There might not be a better example than Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Impossibly young, she was in a no-win situation. It wasn’t just that Murphy & Piscopo so monopolized the show, it’s also a fact that for the first 25 years or so of the show it so consistently demonstrated the deep sexism and misogyny found in the comedy scene. The “women ain’t funny” sentiment was all too prevalent, so JLD was one of many who didn’t have enough opportunity to fully demonstrate her talents.

The three newcomers had a lengthy showcase of their own, as they starred in a sketch satirizing a televangelist TV show. Louis-Dreyfus was outstanding in this one, fully committing to her character. It unfortunately became terribly uncomfortable, as Kroeger’s faith healer character went into the studio audience, searching for female volunteers. He claimed that demons lived in the breasts of the women, which he needed to touch to expel the demons. It was as uncomfortable to watch as it sounds.

Among the other sketches were the return of Murphy’s Tyrone Green character. This time a party filled with pretentious art patrons were trying to gain his favor. This was a premise/character better served with only one appearance; a return was unnecessary. Better was the David Letterman parody; Piscopo had his mannerisms down to a “T,” and if you guessed that Tim Kazurinsky would appear as Larry Bud Melman, you would be right. And Letterman’s guest in the sketch was none other than Gumby. Since I’m not rewatching every episode I don’t know for sure if this was the debut of Murphy as Gumby, but based on the audience reaction when he came on stage I suspect that it was. This is such an outstanding premise, to take one of the most surreal animated characters ever created and rebrand him as an old timey bitter, cigar smoking show biz veteran.

For reference, the musical guest (edited out of the Peacock stream as always) was Queen! The show also featured a cameo from Siskel & Ebert, as the two presented what was described as the first ever live review of a TV show as it was airing. Not sure if they wrote that bit themselves, but it was amusing. Overall, it was a solid kickoff for that new season. It’s inevitable that a 40 year old episode would have some portions that have aged poorly, but Murphy & Piscopo were at the tops of their respective games, and Louis-Dreyfus had a promising debut. Next week I’ll sample the midseason episode hosted by Lily Tomlin. Can’t wait to see her and Eddie Murphy work together.

Spanning The Globe

Upon hearing that phrase, those of a certain age can fill in the rest of the Wide World Of Sports intro. Back in the 3 channel universe days, Wide World was an essential part of our weekly sports viewing, and it introduced American fans to history’s most ill-fated ski jump. (I don’t need to ID the skier as Vinko Bogotaj, do I? You all knew that, right?)

I spent many a productive hour taking in the wide range of events the show presented- everything from major boxing matches, to world championship competitions in Olympic sports, to the Little League World Series, to the Harlem Globetrotters, to some serious WTF events. Back in the 70s there was little televised basketball, so Wide World was our primary source of sports content in that sparse period between the Super Bowl and baseball Opening Day.

It was especially valuable in the years between olympiads, as ABC made sure to air events for Olympic sports to help keep the competitors in the minds of the audience. The tone of the show was crucial as well; they were always careful to show proper respect towards the event regardless of how silly it may have appeared. That’s why I had an issue with the old Cheap Seats series that ESPN Classic used to run. In that show the Sklar Brothers would watch old episodes of Wide World and mock them Mystery Science Theater 3000 style. That felt wrong. The Sklars are smart, funny guys, but Jim McKay and the rest always let the competitors keep their dignity. A barrel jumper put in just as much time and effort to make himself the best barrel jumper in the world as someone from a more mainstream sport would. Respect that.

So, what’s your favorite Wide World showcase sport? I have some affection for motorcycles on ice, but for me the pinnacle of the show was always Acapulco cliff diving. It’s sick enough to jump off of jagged rock formations, but the divers would need to properly time their jumps so they would hit the water at high tide. In order to do that they had to take the leap at an ebb tide. Diving from a high distance into very shallow water, while assuring oneself that the waterline would be high enough to be safe once you reach it? That takes some serious stones.

Unsolicited Immaculate Grid Advice

For s***s and giggles, I strongly recommend that you should try at least once to play Immaculate Grid as close to 9AM on the dot as possible. It’s amusing if you find yourself as one of the very first, if not the first, to play that day’s grid. I first noticed this when one day I made what I thought was an obscure selection and was shocked to see that choice scored at 50%. That when it dawned on me - the grid just went live, so of course there hadn’t yet been enough players that day to generate a meaningful sample size.

One day last week I appear to have pulled it off. I must have been the literal first player, because every one of my selections scored at 100%. I mean, it’s possible that scores of players simultaneously decided that Pat Zachry was the ideal choice for the “Rookie Of The Year/All-Star” box but that seems unlikely. Needless to say, playing that early in the day did not do wonders for my rarity score, but when I checked back in later in the day the game, and my rarity score, had stabilized.

Jimmy Buffett

I wasn’t much of a fan of Jimmy Buffett, so initially I didn’t have much to say following his death. But I have to say that I was really impressed by the outpouring of tributes that came from so many of his peers. There’s always going to be a barrage of statements that come out when a famous person dies. Even when (if?) Henry Kissinger dies we’ll hear a multitude of statements talking about what a great statesman he was. My suspicion is that all of those Kissinger tributes will be completely sincere. You can generally tell when someone is going through the motions with one of these tributes. With Buffett the statements all sounded very heartfelt and genuine.

As part of this litany of tributes I also read a lot of anecdotes describing how well he treated even the most lower level employees in his Margaritaville business empire. It sure seemed like he was a genuinely good dude. His entire mission as a musician was to bring joy to as many people as he could, and he sure succeeded in doing that. That’s a damn good legacy to leave behind.

Until Next Time

And with that it’s time to close the book on another edition of Tending The Herd. Big thanks as always to all of you that read and support this thingamajig. See you again on Friday.